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PC | RPG | World of Warcraft

Boxart for World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft 150 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.5
  • SOUND: 4.5
  • CONTROL: 4.5
  • FUN FACTOR 4.5
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.4
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.7
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Hands-On: World of Warcraft

Hands-On by DUNJINMASTER | 06/10/2004 | 15:04:39 PM PST

Gamers all over the world are finally getting together to say, ?Zug zug.

Knowing that World of Warcraft is on its way is like knowing that Peter Jackson is about to do the next Star Wars movie: You know it?s going to be awesome, but you?re not sure exactly what to expect. After a few hours (all right, a lot of hours) spent playing WOW, it?s pretty clear that Blizzard?s putting as much care into this as it does just about every other game it makes.

Zug Zug
Blizzard made a gutsy move with its beta: It removed the NDA (nondisclosure agreement) early on, enabling players to talk freely about the still unfinished game they were playing. It?s pretty clear why Blizzard did that, though, because the game is already frightfully stable and polished. At press time, we could play only the Alliance races (humans, dwarves, night elves, and gnomes), and just that slice of the world was wonderful and new. Not only does WOW feature an art design philosophy that makes other MMOs look like they had no art design philosophy, but WOW also claims one of the most user-friendly quest systems in the business. For the first eight or nine levels, you will almost always have a quest to do, giving you a focus as you learn the ropes. Meanwhile, the graphics drip with personality, and the game world seems more lush and cool than just about any MMO world out there.

While awesome in so many ways, the WOW beta disappoints in a few. The game ignores some of the advances other games have made in the genre, such as locked encounters and measures to control spawn camping. While downtime in WOW is almost nonexistent (health and energy regenerate quickly between combats), you?ll still find yourself camping and competing with other players for valuable quest monsters. Also somewhat disappointing is the apparent lack of variety among members of the same class, and because Alliance and Horde characters cannot group together, the game?s eight races practically dwindle to four with the other four races essentially off-limits.

An Accurate Acronym
That said, WOW commands attention from MMO fans and rewards them with a rich and stylish game experience. Even though it?s still in beta, it?s become the MMO of choice among several GamePro editors. It will be interesting to see what happens when it launches for real.


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